


Everyone Goes for the Red Ones

by Marks



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: AU: Particle Accelerators Are Great!, Background Caitlin/Ronnie, Candy, Halloween, M/M, Minor Drug and Alcohol Use, but I wanted to mention it in case that bothers anyone, it's not really a big deal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-21
Updated: 2016-10-21
Packaged: 2018-08-23 20:06:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8341033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marks/pseuds/Marks
Summary: Ain't no party like a STAR Labs party 'cuz a STAR Labs party don't stop!





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is set in an AU where STAR gets the particle accelerator online without any catastrophic explosions. I don't know if Wells is just never-been-dead Wells or Thawne with some other grand plan, but honestly, that's totally unimportant when reading the fic. 
> 
> Written for [Hartmon Holidays](http://hartmonholidays.tumblr.com)' 13 Nights of Hartmon's prompt, "Candy." Prompt 3 of 13. Watch as my inability to write short fic slowly unfolds.

Cisco grins like a madman. This is potentially the nerdiest party he's ever attended and he used to LARP, so he knows from nerdy. But Caitlin and Ronnie are sweet, and there's just no way he was going to turn down their Halloween party invite. He's gone in a pretty low-key direction for the costume, opting for his best Spock get-up, but he has to admit he just did it so he could Vulcan salute everyone all night long without anyone getting annoyed with him. 

He has to hand it to Caitlin; she's really done things up right. He's been here for about an hour and has already done most of the rounds: he's pinned the face on the jack o'lantern, gone into the darkened zombie room where he shoved his hands into a bowl of cold spaghetti, and bobbed for apples where he inconveniently lost both of his pointy putty ears. After coming up all wet, he's thankful he'd tied his hair back that night. He usually does for work so Hartley won't give him shit again for being unprofessional, but during his off-time he usually leaves it down. Too many hours in the ponytail gives him headaches.

Speaking of headaches, Cisco spots Hartley and heads in the opposite direction. He'd been meaning to get a drink anyway. What's Hartley even doing here, anyway? As far as Cisco knows, he barely tolerates half of his coworkers and the other half he outright hates. Cisco's been a proud member of the second group for over a year now, even though he has to admit Hartley chilled out like a percentage of an iota once the particle accelerator was up and running. Still, those early days stung and Cisco knows a permadouche when he sees one. Aaaaand why's he still thinking about Hartley anyway? Just because this is a work party doesn't mean he has to think about the bad parts of work.

Cisco heads over to the snack table and gets himself a big old cup of red punch that smells like it's just rum with a couple of drops of food coloring. He dumps the candy he brought along into an empty bowl, propping up the EDIBLES sign he'd made in front of the bowl of lollipops. Cisco's all for some mind-altering fun as long as everyone knows what they're getting into. Knowledge is power and all that, right? He grabs a purple one for himself and gets to mingling.

*

Cisco is chomping on the end of his candy and schooling Arthur Light in ping-pong when he notices Hartley again. He's wearing some sort of costume, too, dark robe over a tunic with a light saber hooked onto his belt, and seriously, what the fuck? His very first day at STAR, Hartley had given him shit about his Han shirt and it turns out he's a Star Wars fan? The costume doesn't even look like a shitty off-the-rack one, which means Hartley either had it custom made or he made it himself. Cisco files that information away for later as Arthur swears out loud when Cisco blows another point by him. He takes a drink as Arthur sets up the next shot.

He doesn't really know how he expected Hartley Rathaway to act at a work party, mostly because Hartley Rathaway has never _been_ to a work party, but laughing and at ease isn't it. Ray Terrill, who works in Research and Development, seems about as surprised as Cisco but more delighted about it, considering Hartley is grinning at him and leaning in to touch Ray's elbow. One time Cisco and Ray went out to lunch and they both agreed Hartley would be a hundred times hotter if he just mellowed out, with Ray concluding that Hartley was pretty hot already. Which. Whatever. Good for them. Hartley glances over at Cisco and their eyes briefly lock before Cisco looks away.

Cisco wins another point and the match and peaces out, ignoring Arthur's frustrated demands for a rematch.

*

After getting the grand post-wedding, oh-my-god-we-have-a-new-house-and-a-mortgage-now tour from Caitlin, Cisco heads back over to the refreshments table in a delightful mood. Seriously, Cisco can't be happier for them. It's hard not to be when they're so damned happy and have their whole lives ahead of them. If Cisco feels any twinges of sadness when he looks at them, it's just because he doesn't know if he'll ever have anything like they do. It's been like three months since his last date, two years since his last girlfriend and even longer since his last boyfriend. Still, before he finds himself in the maudlin place, he remembers it's a party and pours himself a second cup of punch. A nice little buzz is settling in and he wants to chase that feeling. 

Hartley's digging around in the bowl of lollipops that Cisco brought. Kind of a surprise, but hey, Cisco can be open-minded. And wherever Ray is, it's not with Hartley right then.

"I only like the red ones," Hartley says, seemingly talking to himself as he digs through the bowl, but then he looks at Cisco and sighs. "Everyone always goes for those first."

"I'm surprised you're going for those at all," Cisco says. He digs his whole hand into the bowl and flips over the contents. Jackpot. Plenty of reds down at the bottom.

Hartley raises his eyebrows suspiciously, and great, this is going to be just like work. Cisco looks around to see if Caitlin can play buffer like she usually does, but she's leading another tour group toward the stairs. Well, whatever. Cisco can always make a quick escape. 

"Why?" Hartley asks. "You don't have a monopoly on lollipops. Just because I don't eat them in a professional setting doesn't mean I never do."

Cisco rolls his eyes so hard they nearly fall out of his head. He grabs Hartley's wrist, turns his hand over, and puts a red lollipop into his palm. "Don't be a dick. Red's a solid choice, but these are _edibles_."

Hartley stares at him blankly.

Oh. Now Cisco gets it. "It has pot in it. Well, THC," Cisco explains.

Hartley looks down at the lollipop in his hand. "Huh," he says finally.

Cisco shrugs. "They're not very strong but no big deal if it's not your thing. It's only my thing at parties. And I have some regular lollipops in my car, if you want. Red ones, even. What would I do at work otherwise?"

"Well, it's good to know you're not taking drugs at work," Hartley says eventually. Then he knits his eyebrows together in this thoughtful little look that shouldn't be cute, but _is_ cute, dammit, and pulls the wrapper off his candy. "When in Rome," he says, and pops the lollipop into his mouth.

Cisco takes a drink. "Why are you in Rome exactly?"

"Hmm?" Hartley's mouth is still full, and his lips are already turning sticky red as he pulls the lollipop out of his mouth and sucks it back in. Jesus. Cisco wonders if this is what he looks like on a day-to-day basis and that's why it annoys Hartley so much, but dismisses the thought. 

"Why did you come to Caitlin's party?" Cisco clarifies. "I know she always invites you out whenever we all go some place, and I know you always turn her down because you're too busy reading French poetry and practicing your snotty expressions in front of a mirror." 

Hartley has a faintly amused expression on his face. "Is that what you think I do with my free time?"

"Am I wrong?" 

"Not about the poetry," Hartley admits. "Maybe a little bit of the other thing. But if you must know, Harrison seemed to think it might be good for my stress levels to socialize with the rest of the team more often, especially now that the particle accelerator is up and running. He seems to think I'm a little tightly wound."

A little tightly wound. That's like saying the Statue of Liberty is kind of a tall lady. " _Harrison_ knows you so well," Cisco says and it's insane how bitter he sounds. He hadn't meant for it to come out like that, and the worst part is he doesn't even know which one of them is making him sound that way.

Hartley tilts his head at that, then pulls the lollipop out of his mouth. "Do I sound like that when I talk about you?"

"What?"

"Jealousy's not your color, Cisco," Hartley says. "I look better in green."

"I look great in green," Cisco says petulantly and totally ignoring what they were discussing, which is the whole point.

Hartley apparently finds that very funny because he grins at that. "Is the punch any good?" he asks, as he steals Cisco's cup and takes a long drink. Hartley swallows, and Cisco swallows, and he's just happy to let the whole moment pass.

*

A little while later, Cisco and Hartley snag spots on Caitlin and Ronnie's couch when two of the women who work in Bioinformatics get up from their seats. These are prime comfortable seats, and Cisco does a little fist pump of victory when he spots the vacancy.

"Suckers," Cisco says as he flops onto the cushion and tries not to spill what's left of his drink on himself.

Hartley pulls the finished lollipop from his mouth and shows Cisco the empty stick. "Sucker's all gone."

Cisco grins. "Did you just make a joke?"

"Maybe," Hartley says defensively. He carefully pulls a napkin from inside his Jedi tunic and makes a big show of wrapping the stick inside it before tucking it back into his costume. This is just too much for Cisco, who cracks up at the production. " _What_?" Hartley asks, somehow sounding even more defensive than he had before.

"You're ridiculous," Cisco says. Hartley makes a face and starts to get up at that, but Cisco pulls him back down. Before, he could pretend they were in each other's space kind of accidentally, but this is pretty clearly deliberate. He realizes he wants Hartley there. He's _enjoying_ having Hartley there and he's actually having more fun than he's had all night. "Don't go. I like it. You being ridiculous, I mean." 

Cisco wants to blame it on the alcohol, but he just hasn't had enough for that to make sense.

"What do you know about financial aid?" Hartley says out of nowhere. Cisco tries rolling with the change of subject.

"So much," Cisco says. "I can tell you everything you need to know about scholarships, grants, and student loans. I wasn't going to college without it, and not going to college just wasn't an option for me."

"Well, me either," Hartley says. "The problem is when I was eighteen, I had hope."

"Hope?"

"Yes, about the world, and about my parents. So I came out to them knowing they'd react badly, but I had hope that they'd come around. I never thought I'd wind up thrown out on my ass. Because even stubborn parents are still supposed to be your parents, right?"

Cisco and his parents have had their problems, sure, and yeah, being in his twenties and moving out have doubled as excuses to avoid family gatherings, but even with that, he still loves them. He just can't see them ever doing what Hartley's parents did. 

"But the thing is, when your parents are super rich, the government doesn't care if you tell them they're no longer speaking to you. They just know your financial information says you can buy the school you're going to five times over. But luckily having rich parents also means they have business rivals, and sometimes those business rivals are more open-minded about your situation, and they pay for your school. _All_ of your school, and sure, it's just to stick it to your father, but still, you can't help but feel grateful. Especially when he checks in on you weekly from the time you're eighteen until he hires you straight out of grad school. You feel pathetically, awfully grateful, and you don't want to do anything to lose that, even if it makes you kind of a pill." Hartley laughs, even though nothing he just said is at all funny. "What on earth was in that lollipop?" he says finally.

"Me too," Cisco blurts out.

"What?" asks Hartley.

"Me too. He paid for me, too. I mean, not for political gain or anything, and not that he knew who I was at the time. But I won a full ride because of a STAR endowment. He knows it, I know it, and I'll probably always be loyal to him because of it. So believe me when I say I get it." Cisco grins. "Everyone just thought you were sleeping with him."

Hartley shrugs. "I know. But he would never."

"Would you?" Cisco asks before he can stop himself.

"I try not to catch feelings for straight guys." Hartley gives Cisco a once-over and takes a deep breath. "Which means I probably should go right now."

Cisco shakes his head. "Yeah, that's not necessary." He slides his hand over Hartley's, adding meaningfully, "Like, at all." He waits the beat it takes for Hartley to catch on. Hartley's eyes widen and flick down to their hands, then back up to Cisco's face. A really attractive flush spreads over Hartley's cheeks.

"If we don't go somewhere else right now, I'm going to kiss you in front of everyone," Hartley warns him and Cisco inhales sharply.

The room is really crowded. More than half of the people Cisco works with every single day are in Caitlin's living room, and even with that indisputable fact, he still wants to dare Hartley to do it. He wants everyone to stare at them and notice exactly what's going on so neither of them can deny whatever's happening here on Monday morning. But the other half of him reminds him how much more they can do without an audience.

"Let's go," Cisco says and pulls Hartley to his feet.

*

They wind up in a coat closet upstairs, Cisco giving a silent thank you for having taken that tour. There's no lock but if one of them is up against the door, it'll take a fair amount of leverage to push it open. That's just science. As soon as the door shuts behind them, Cisco pushes Hartley up against it to test his theory. And while no one is beating down the door to get inside, Hartley lets out a breathy little gasp that's nice enough for Cisco to declare it a theoretical success.

"You've got hidden depths, don't you?" Hartley says, hooking his fingers into Cisco's waistband and pulling him in.

Cisco kisses Hartley by way of an answer, opening his mouth just enough that Hartley's sure to follow. He tastes like the cherry lollipop he'd been eating, and god knows Cisco's got one hell of a sweet tooth. This is something he's never given much thought, even though he can't deny he's appreciated Hartley aesthetically before. Hartley's been such a pain in his ass for the last year. But now that he's here with Hartley's tongue in his mouth, and Hartley's thigh in between both of his, he's not sure he's going to be able to think about anything else ever again. 

Hartley runs his hands up Cisco's sides and chest and loops his arms around Cisco's neck, pulling Cisco's hair out of his ponytail before breaking their kiss. "How come you never wear your hair down?" he asks, handing Cisco his hair elastic. Cisco tosses it carelessly into the dark of the closet, which he admits he halfway did just to annoy Hartley.

"I do," Cisco says. He picks a spot on Hartley's neck, leans in and places an open-mouthed kiss there. "Outside of work, I almost never wear my hair up," he says against Hartley's skin. "I only did today to show off my ears. If you ever hung out with us, you'd know that."

"Your ears?" Hartley asks, shuddering a little as Cisco pushes the outside robe from Hartley's costume off his shoulders and lets it pool on the floor. "We see your ears every day. They're very nice, but I don't know why you'd need to show them off specifically."

Cisco laughs. "I mean I had Spock ears on before. Did you think I was supposed to be some random science officer?" He pulls back, suddenly alarmed by a terrible, unthinkable thought. "Or do you not know I'm in costume?"

"Of course I know Star Trek!" Hartley says, sticking his nose up in the air. "If you must know, I thought you were McCoy."

"God, you're a super nerd," Cisco says with relief. He grabs Hartley's light saber — not a euphemism, the one that's part of his costume — and drops it on the floor with the robe. "First a Jedi costume, and now I find out you're a Trekkie. And here I was thinking you were just a snob."

"I can be two things," Hartley says haughtily, though he's falling down on the snob front right then because he's urgently tugging Cisco back in by the front of his Spock uniform so they can kiss again. This one's good, too, especially as they both start to get a little frantic. Hartley pushes his hands underneath Cisco's shirt, while Cisco runs his palm down the front of Hartley's tunic and pushes his hand inside Hartley's pants. It's worth it for about a thousand reasons, but the best one is the desperate little moan that escapes Hartley's mouth when Cisco wraps his fingers around his cock and starts moving.

Hartley tries being helpful at first, sucking Cisco's lower lip into his mouth and tugging lightly on the ends of his hair, but as Cisco speeds up he seems to go boneless and closes his eyes. He rests his head against the back of the door, bucking up into Cisco's closed fist.

"Are you all right?" Cisco asks, leaning in to bite Hartley's earlobe. Hartley nods frantically in response.

"It's just, uh, a lot," Hartley breathes, gasping sharply as Cisco twists his wrist. "It's been a while." 

"Wanna make it a lot more?" Cisco asks, then drops to his knees. 

He unzips Hartley's pants and tugs everything down past his hips, making sure to look up under his lashes to see Hartley's reaction as he opens his mouth and sucks. It's in no way a disappointment. Cisco has always loved what happens when he does this. He's not going to lie, he knows what his mouth looks like, and besides, whenever he shows some promise in a field, he works as hard as he can to be the best at it. As it so happens, Cisco is a natural at sucking dick, and as it _also_ so happens, based on the increasing volume of Hartley's moans, practice makes perfect. Cisco wonders if Hartley's usually a screamer but fighting to keep control, and now that's another problem Cisco's determined to solve. 

Cisco loves being a problem-solver and a people-pleaser; this plays to all of his strengths.

Hartley's hands are fluttering tentatively above Cisco's head, so Cisco pops off and says with a wrecked voice, "Just fucking go for it, Hartley." With a helpless moan, Hartley digs his fingers into Cisco's scalp and pulls. And that's another thing Cisco loves — letting someone else share the control, because Cisco is also a team player. It's not long before Hartley's driving Cisco's movements, making them both groan.

"Cisco, God, you have to pull off, I'm —" Hartley tries warning him, but he stubbornly stays right where he is and lets Hartley shudder and come down his throat. Hartley drops hard onto his knees in front of him and before Cisco's even had a chance to think, he's licking his palm and pushing his hand inside Cisco's pants. Cisco's really goddamn hard — Hartley's not the only one it's been a while for; they've both been really busy with work, okay? — and he's overwhelmed by Hartley's hand jerking him off and by Hartley's tongue in his mouth. It only takes about two minutes before he's coming helplessly all over Hartley's fist.

Hartley presses their foreheads together as Cisco desperately tries to remember how to breathe again.

"So are all work parties this much fun?" asks Hartley lightly after a few moments.

Cisco laughs. "They will be now."

*

They leave the party separately, but from the way Caitlin raises her eyebrows at Cisco's mussed hair and swollen lips as he says his goodbyes, he's sure she at least knows something's up. He doesn't know how much she's guessed, but he wouldn't be too surprised if it's everything. Caitlin's pretty intuitive. The weird thing is he's pretty sure he doesn't care if she knows. In fact, he kind of likes the idea.

Then, the rest of the weekend is spent in a whirlwind of doubt. He already has Hartley's cell number — he had to, in case of any accelerator-related emergencies — so he spends the next two days typing and then erasing fake casual texts. Hartley doesn't send any of his own, so maybe that was it. Oh well. Cisco's had way worse one-night stands. He tries to convince himself that he's not disappointed.

On Monday morning, he passes Hartley in the hallway on the way to his desk. Hartley says good morning and actually smiles at Cisco and everything, but he doesn't manhandle Cisco into the nearest supply closet either, so Cisco guesses that really is that. Just a bit of Halloween fun after a little buzz. But if all that results is Hartley smiling a little more when he's at work, then Cisco supposes it was worth it.

When Cisco gets to his desk, a whole bag of red lollipops is sitting on it. There's a note that says _This way I always know where to find them. You already know where to find me. -H_ attached.

Cisco grins and grabs two. He takes off down the hall again, heading in Hartley's direction.


End file.
